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>> Brazilians, on Thursday, reacting to explosive headlines that their most popular politician could be placed behind bars. The nation's top court ruled that former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, can be sent to prison while he continues to appeal his corruption conviction.>> The Supreme Court's decision yesterday was a good one.

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It shows that justice still prevails against a really powerful person. And it also takes away some of the impunity that we have in this country.>> Lula was found guilty in August 2017 and sentenced to ten years in prison for accepting bribes worth a million dollars from engineering firm OAS.

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That money, prosecutors say, was spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with state-run oil company Petrobras. In January, an appeals court unanimously upheld his conviction and increased the prison sentence to 12 years.>>

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> On top of that there are six separate corruption trials pending against Lula.

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But, Brazil's working class politician is still the frontrunner in all opinion polls for the presidential election in October. That could change. Under Brazilian electoral law, a candidate is forbidden from running for elected office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. The ultimate decision in Lula's case would be made by the top electoral court if and when Lula officially filed to be a candidate.